Baltimore Sun editorials are never teacher friendly ("Let's Cut Both April 6).

The recent article advocating the shift of teacher pension money to local governments — as one of the cuts in the state budget — shows great disdain for teachers. And your reasoning that the current system "benefits the rich counties most and the poor ones least" is frivolous and irrelevant to the issue. No counties, rich or poor, can afford to raise their property taxes, which is the only logical way to maintain pension monies at a decent and fair level.

So what's the alternative? I think you already know the answer. It means cutting back on the amount of money put into the retirement plans and less payment when a teacher retires.

The Maryland teachers' pension plan is decent as it stands. It's not the greatest, but it does attract good future teachers. When you mess with this plan, as The Sun suggests, you discourage good prospects and impede all the progress the state has achieved in education.

David Boyd, White Hall